Sinopec, SK to build butadiene unit in Wuhan

07 April 2008 04:54  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Sinopec and its South Korean partner SK Energy will build a 140,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit as part of their naphtha cracker project in central China, the Chinese energy major said on Monday.

Ten sets of facilities including an 800,000 tonne/year cracker, a 500,000 tonne/year hydrotreater and the BD unit would be built in Wuhan, Hubei province, Sinopec said in a statement.

Commissioning of the project was expected by the end of 2011 after construction work started on 18 December last year, the company added.

Sinopec did not provide the cost of the project which was earlier reported as yuan (CNY) 1.9bn ($270.7m).

It also did not elaborate on downstream plans, but ICIS news had earlier reported that these could include a 500,000 tonne/year benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes (BTX) unit, two 300,000 tonnes/year polyethylene (PE) units and a 400,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit.

A 300,000 tonnes/year ethylene oxide/monoethylene glycol (EO/MEG) unit was also planned and the company could produce low density PE (LDPE).

Construction on Sinopec’s three other crackers in Fujian, Tianjin and Zhejiang provinces have started and they are expected to be completed in 2009-2010.

($1=CNY7.02)

By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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